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Protective action of arachidonic acid against alloxan-induced cytotoxicity and diabetes mellitus

https://doi.org/10.1054/plef.2000.0236Get rights and content

Abstract

Previous studies showed that essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency, conjugated linoleic acid and troglitazone exert a protective effect in animal models of diabetes mellitus. Here we show that alloxan-induced in vitro cytotoxicity and apoptosis in an insulin secreting rat insulinoma, RIN, cells can be prevented by arachidonic acid (AA) and that both cyclo-oxygenase and lipoxygenase inhibitors do not block this protective action. Alloxan-induced diabetes in male Wistar rats was also prevented by oral supplementation of AA, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). This protective action is best when the animals were pre-treated with the fatty acid. These results suggest that polyunsaturated fatty acids can prevent alloxan-induced diabetes mellitus in experimental animals and may be useful to prevent diabetes mellitus in the high-risk population.

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      Citation Excerpt :

      Anti-inflammatory therapies represent a potential approach for treatment of diabetes complications including neuropathy (1–3,40,41). Previously, we reported that PUFAs have cytoprotective action against alloxan and streptozotocin-induced cytotoxicity to pancreatic β cells and prevent the development of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (20–27,37) and at least, in part, this action seems to be mediated by the anti-inflammatory metabolites of PUFAs. In a previous study, we showed that alloxan-induced type 1 diabetic animals that received supplementation of PUFAs have almost normal pancreatic β cell mass (21–24).

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    Correspondence to: U. N. Das MD, FAMS, EFA Sciences LLC, 1420 Providence Highway, Suite #266, Norwood, MA 02062, USA. Tel.: +1 781 278 9919; Fax: +1 781 278 9959; E-mail: [email protected]

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